Tom Cruise smile comes with a sunburn price

You’ll get three more stories free this month, then, if your university or employer has a Standard Level or Premium Level subscription once you have signed up you’ll get free access whilst that subscription is active.

If you have a journalist or contributor login, please use it to gain full access to our service

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Password *

Sign up for an AlphaGalileo Readers’ Account.

You’ll get three more stories free this month, then, if your university or employer has a Standard Level or Premium Level subscription once you have signed up you’ll get free access whilst that subscription is active.

If you have a journalist or contributor login, please use it to gain full access to our service.

If you wish to cancel at any time simply contact your bank to stop the standing order.

This item is under embargo and is only visible to journalists

Location:

Address

Opening Hours:

Ticket price:

Broadcast content type:

Broadcast starts:

Broadcast duration:

Publication title:

Author:

Publication type:

Publication date:

Number of pages:

ISBN number:

Price:

UV light-enhanced tooth bleaching is not only a con, but is dangerous to your eyes and skin, says a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

The light treatment gives absolutely no benefit over bleaching without UV, and damages skin and eyes up to four times as much as sunbathing, reports a study in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.

Those looking to match Tom Cruise’s glittering pearly-whites would be better off ignoring claims of better bleaching with UV light treatment.

The treatment is at least as damaging to skin and eyes as sunbathing in Hyde Park for a midsummer’s afternoon – one lamp actually gave four times that level of radiation exposure.

And as with sunbathing, fair-skinned or light-sensitive people are at even greater risk, said lead author Ellen Bruzell of the Nordic Institute of Dental Materials.

Bruzell also found that bleaching damaged teeth. She saw more exposed grooves on the enamel surface of bleached teeth than on unbleached teeth. These grooves make the teeth more vulnerable to mechanical stress.

Tooth bleaching is one of the most popular cosmetic dental treatments available. It uses a bleaching agent – usually hydrogen peroxide – to remove stains such as those from red wine, tea and coffee, and smoking.

UV light is claimed to further activate the oxidation process, improving bleaching efficiency. The authors of this Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences article say there is very little substantive evidence to support this claim, and their new study finds no benefit to using UV light.

Full bibliographic information

PPS meets the growing information needs of scientists working in the areas of photochemistry and photobiology, and indeed, encourages a synergism between these two important research areas. This international journal is published monthly on behalf of the European Photochemistry Association (EPA), the European Society for Photobiology (ESP), the Asia and Oceania Society for Photobiology (AOSP) and the Korean Society of Photoscience (KSP), and is available in both print and electronic formats.

Attached files

Person receving UV light-assisted tooth bleaching treatment

This item has been withdrawn. Registered users can contact the publishing organisation for further details by logging in